I’m like totally fer sure

Over the weekend, I got to see Berlin in concert. I had a fantastic time.

More importantly, I got to wear a ‘like totally’ 80s dress.

Which reminded me that I really gotta take more pictures.

Bones

Night shoot. Well, kinda. More like a get-there-before-dark-and-leave-when-it’s-still-dark. Usually night shoots last until the sun comes up.

Anyhow, I was a ‘fight club patron with car’. I gladly brought my Viper.

After misjudging traffic by more than an hour (I’m still shocked that the Sepulveda pass was not utterly jammed at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon), I parked my car and sat in it for about a half hour before heading to base camp. This was one of those rare occasions when they say there’ll be a shuttle from parking to base camp, but there isn’t. And then it didn’t matter because base camp was about a block away. I’ve walked further to catch shuttles.

Okay, now, as an extra there are a few events right at the beginning of the shoot which can make or break the experience. This show, made it. Oh hell yeah.

I was walking with another guy who’d been early. When we got into base camp, there was a friendly-looking guy making what to the street racer world is the spinning finger circle denoting that there’s a cop nearby, but in Hollywood, that’s the signal that the camera’s rolling, so be quiet and stay still until the moment passes (can be as long as maybe ten minutes, but is usually somewhere just under a minute). Then, the fellow showed us to where holding was–and sounded welcoming. Weird. Extras are usually treated like a necessary evil.

From that first moment, myself and the guy I’d walked in with agreed that this was going to be a pretty good night. We hadn’t been to the set yet, but if one person was that cool toward extras, there’d likely be lots more.

Our call time coincided with the end of the lunch break, but the extras got to go through the chow line, too. Awesome, awesome, awesome. If I’d’ve known, I wouldn’t’ve eaten before I came. (See, I’m really not used to being treated so well.)

I survived wadrobe by having to change into what I thought was one of the least likely things I’d brought: my violet/black vinyl snakeskin pants, burgundy tank top and black burn-through velvet blouse. That meant that while my shoulders would freeze, my legs would bake. Believe me, that was a billion times better than a spaghetti strap minidress. Night calls get cold no matter what time of year it is.

Anyway, I spent the down time reading a book about the Hundred Years War while in holding.

Funny thing, though, I got to see something I’d never seen before… While in holding, we could see through windows out into the warehouse where there was an SUV parked between two screens. What looked like a suburban neighborhood scrolled by, projected on both sides as though the SUV was in motion.

Not that I didn’t know about the technique, I’d just never seen it done. Being that close to it was kinda disorienting, but I wouldn’t trade the experience for the world. Weird, but nifty. I love Hollywood.

Anyway, when the time came, I went out to bring my Viper around and was directed to park it near the entrance. I’m still amazed that I got it shoe-horned into the tiny spot they wanted it. Thankfully, they never treated me like ‘a girl’. Sometimes, when I’m in any of my cars, I get treated like I can’t drive before I’ve even proven myself. It’s just like when I get asked if my ’68 Mustang Fastback is my boyfriend’s or husband’s car. Grrrr… Anyway, the guys on this show seemed to accept me for me and that was awesome.

The 2nd AD was very thorough with us extras. Admittedly, he did have a lot of time to place us, but it was really nice of him to walk us through our crosses and make sure we knew what he wanted to see out of us. That was nice. Consequently, we didn’t get yelled at, we got directed during the shooting.

The scene was about three minutes and all of us extras just had long crosses through the parking lot into the warehouse. Simple stuff, but stretched out over a long time.

Both the big stars were there. I know my best friend was jealous that I’d get to see David Boreanaz again. (I was on Angel a few years ago.) He’s so friggin’ hot.

And I almost ran him over after I was instructed to move my car. There just wasn’t a whole lot of clearance between one of the trucks and the corner of the building. It wasn’t a near-miss or anything. He and the other actor he was walking with yielded and I waved my thanks. I was a little terrified, but whatever. I had to get my car parked and run back to set.

But the parking structure was closed. And there was nothing but red curbs near base camp.

I finally got the last spot after moving a traffic cone that I nearly didn’t see and almost ran over. By the time I hoofed it back to base camp, the 2nd AD was wrapping various people. I was gladly one of them. WooHoo! I got to go home after a short day–well, night.

Great gig. I wish more were like this one.

It’s officially official!

I’m officially booked in for stunt driving school at the end of this month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m also still in shock.

I mean, when I was a little girl I said, “Some day, I wanna go to stunt driving school.” But I never thought I’d ever get to go.

And here I am, less than three weeks away and I’m still not sure if I really am going. I mean, it was a dream…something to give me hope, a goal to work toward. It wasn’t supposed to actually happen!

Now I just hope that the reality is even better than the dream!

(I’m bettin’ it will be. I love cars. I love driving and drifting. This is gonna be so friggin’ awesome!!!!!)

I guess I’ll let you know in early October…a few weeks before Otherness: Rift is released from Samhain Publishing.

Hollywoodland

All this time I’d thought I’d posted about Hollywoodland. I worked on it over a year ago, but I just checked the archives and it’s not there.

When I worked on it, it was called ‘Truth, Justice and The American Way’.

The week before the shoot, I went to a costume fitting. The costumers on the show were very picky. Very, very picky. Or at least the designer was. The other girls were pretty cool, nice, lacking the holier-than-thou attitude which gets tiring as an extra. Background actors are truly the bottom of the totem pole and get treated like dirt most of the time. This was no exception so I kept my mouth shut and changed outfits three times even after saying, “I’m extra small.” and variations on that theme because sometimes in order to fit me, I’m given clothes out of the section they consider children’s even though they really are adult. But still, costumers never believe me when I tell them how small I am and I have no idea why.

The Costume Designer finally settled on a green gingham sundress that I absolutely loved, too. The belt she added didn’t seem right, but I guess from far enough away, it’d look okay. The light pink button-up sweater reminded me of my grandma and was super-soft. And I was glad for that little sweater because I get cold very easily. The shoes looked great, but felt awful. I prayed that I wouldn’t have to be on my feet for very long on the day of filming.

The Hair and Make-up lady gave me nail polish and lipstick and a sheet on how to do the rest of my make-up. I was pretty scared because I’m lousy at putting on make-up, but it didn’t sound too difficult. And she was the first Hair Designer who didn’t freak out that my hair is short. The scene was to take place in 1953, I think.

Fast forward to the big day.

I showed up early to the school auditorium that’d serve as holding. There were two categories: children and parents. Guess which category I fell into?

For some reason our costumes either didn’t make it onto the truck or were misplaced. It took a little while to find our outfits, but I got into mine just fine. The shoes…oh, the shoes…ow, the shoes.

Anyway, they were shooting in multiple locations. Of course, my scene was up last. I got my hair done in a great 50s style and my make-up was retouched from the job I’d done. I felt like I looked great to start. But I was feeling pretty wilted after waiting in holding for nine or so hours and finally boarding a bus to the set.

It was a neighborhood scene in which about twenty kids were playing with all sorts of cool toys and the three of us ‘Moms’ were gathered together talking. Then, all of our kids start running toward the houses and we break up and follow. You see, the theme song to Superman came on and all the kiddies had to go inside to watch. It was a very big deal for us.

UPDATE: Yes, that really is me waaaaaaaaaaay in the deep background, almost hidden by the tree and the bicycle. This is probably one of my smallest appearances on screen!

We did several takes. My feet ended up numb, but I felt pretty good about the work I’d done despite the pain. I don’t know if I can be seen, but my little bit was supposed to be during the opening credits of the movie. I haven’t seen it yet, so I don’t know if I’m on the cutting room floor or not.

The best part about the long wait and then the single, relatively simple scene was that once it was done and the sun was going down, I got to leave…and slip on my comfy shoes for the drive home!

busy girl

After cancan-ing my little heart out at WorldCon last month and then enjoying a visit from my parental units this past week, I’m pretty darn exhausted, but pleased.

Otherness: Rift comes out in less than two months and I’m beside myself with glee!

‘Course there’s also tons of work to be done in preparation for that big day, but one step at a time is all I can handle right now.

As I’ve blogged before, I’m currently producing a wine review video podcast website at www.wineass.com and good golly has that kept me busy in such an awesome way. I love to learn and much learning I have done. Perhaps there’s a novel or two in the experience as well.

And I’ve been sewing… Not just my Leeloo {from 5th Element}-Does-Cancan costume (still awaiting pictures ’cause we had a camera meltdown at WorldCon). I’m trying to shovel out my beautiful craft room and in order to do that, these projects new and old need to either be finished or tossed.

I’m votin’ for finished.

First up: A pair of jungle green satin pants with a royal blue lace overlay–complete with appliques. Sounds kinda bizarre, huh? It probably will be. I’m not far enough along to know for sure!

Pardon my little chuckle here, but I’m multi-tasking… I’m exporting a freshly edited video while blogging and while waiting for my iron to heat up. I feel like some odd combination of techno/textile geekage has come over me.

And I LOVE it!